English Language & Literature

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What are you talkin’ about?

Journalist Oliver Kamm was pro-Beth Rigby, Sky News’ senior political correspondent, when she was criticised for her use of Estuary English. Surely the media should reflect all accents?

Kamm describes the condemning of speech due to accent or dialects and not on the grounds of articulacy as unacceptable. All members of society contribute towards the upkeep of the media, whether that be through the licence fees or the simple task of buying a newspaper , and so it is essential that accents cater to all individuals for the media to represent us. Take Ant and Dec for example; both from the toon, both a big aspect of the media and both well-loved by many. No matter where you’re from, you and your hometown own the media.

Similarly, Pat Glass too criticised older Tories for deliberately mocking women MPs for their northern accents, stating “What I found is if a woman gets to speak, particularly women with an accent, then there is orchestrated barracking.”

Sir John Reith, the first director-general of the BBC, believed passionately in the role of public-service broadcasting in spreading “correct” English. In modern society, it is a must that individual should be chosen in regard to how much they know or say, and not the way that they say it.